Pump for semi-fluid materials

ABSTRACT

A positive displacement pump having inlet and outlet passages for each pump cylinder, and a single rotary plug type valve to simultaneously control charging and discharging flow of fluid materials through said passages.

United States Patent 1 1 [111 3,909,160 Sherrod Sept. 30, 1975 [54] PUMPFOR SEMI-FLUID MATERIALS 3,663,129 5/1972 Antosh .1 417/900 3,741,6916/1973 Schwing 417/900 [76] Inventor: EugePe Mnte R25,568 5/1964 Sherrod417/900 Cervmo 9, 20052 Monza, Italy FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATION [22]Filed: Oct. 26, 1973 8 1,953,405 5/1971 Germany 417/900 [2]] App]. No.:409,786

Primary Examiner-C. J. Husar 52 us. (:1. 417/517; 417/519; 417/900Assistant Examiner-G P. LaPOime [51] Int. Cl. F04b 7/00; F04b 15/02 [58]Field of Search 417/900, 516-519, 57 ABSTRACT A positive displacementpump having inlet and outlet [56] References Cited passages for eachpump cylinder, and a single rotary plug type valve to simultaneouslycontrol charging and UNITED STATES PATENTS discharging flow of fluidmaterials through said pas- 3,29s,322 l/1967 Sherrod 417/577 sages3,398,693 8/1968 Schumann 4l7/507 3,647,326 3/1972 Bille 417/517 3Claims, 6 Drawing Figures US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 1 of4 I3,909,160

FIGJZ.

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 2 of4 3,909,160

FIG.3

Sheet 3 of4. 3,909,160

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975

FIG.6.

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet4of4 3,909,160

FIG..5.

PUMP FOR SEMI-FLUID MATERIALS This invention relates to positivedisplacement pumps of the general type disclosed in my US. Pat. Nos. Re.25,568 and 3,298,322; and has more particular reference to improvementsin the valving for pumps designed especially to handle freshly mixedconcrete and other materials of a semi-fluid nature having poor flowcharacteristics.

All such pumps are equipped with a hopper to hold a supply of thematerial to be pumped, which material is inducted into pumping chambersin the form of cylinders upon movement of their pistons in chargingdirections. The material is expelled from the cylinders to a deliveryline in consequence of reverse movement of the pump pistons, indischarge directions.

It will be appreciated, therefore, that each pump cylinder must beclosed off from the delivery line when it is being charged with materialfrom the hopper. Similarly, it must be closed off from the hopper attimes when it is discharging material to the delivery line. Accordingly,it is essential to provide some type of valve mechanism to governcharging and discharging of the pump cylinders in synchronism withpiston movements.

Heretofore, most of the valving employed in concrete pumps was quitecomplicated and costly. In many cases separate inlet and outlet valveswere required for each pump cylinder. Needless to say, this not onlyadded to the cost of the valving but it also made synchronization ofvalve and piston movements more complicated.

In contrast to the above, it is the purpose of this invention to providea concrete pump of the positive displacement type having inlet andoutlet passages for each pumping chamber, and a single rotatable valvemechanism to control charging of material into and discharge of materialfrom said chambers.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide aconcrete pump of the character described, wherein the valve mechanismopens the inlet passage and closes the outlet passage for one pumpingchamber concurrently with closure of the inlet passage and opening ofthe outlet passage of another pumping chamber in one operating positionof said mechanism; and which valve mechanism, in another operatingposition thereof, closes the inlet passage and opens the outlet passagefor said one chamber concurrently with opening of the inlet passage andclosure of the outlet passage for said other chamber.

With these observations and objectives in mind, the manner in which theinvention achieves its purpose will be appreciated from the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings, which exemplify theinvention, it being understood that changes may be made in the specificapparatus disclosed herein without departing from the essentials of theinvention set forth in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate two complete examples of theembodiments of the invention constructed according to the best modes sofar devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a two cylinder concretepump of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view looking rearwardly toward the pumpcylinders and showing the pump porting and valve mechanism therefor;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the pump seen in FIG. 1, with portions brokenaway and shown in section; and

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are sectional, top and valve section views,respectively, of another embodiment of the invention, FIG. 6 being takenon the line 66 in FIG. 4. Referring now to the accompanying drawings,and particularly to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the numerals l0 and 11 designatethe pumping cylinders of a two cylinder pump of this invention. Thesecylinders have been shown as disposed with their axes horizontal and inspaced apart parallel relationship.

Pistons 12 and 13 in the cylinders 10 and 11, respectively, arereciprocally driven by any suitable means in opposite phase relation toone another. Hydraulic actuating cylinders (not shown) such as employedin the pumps of my US. Pat. Nos. Re. 25,563 and 3,298,322, may beemployed to drive the pump pistons.

As is customary, the front ends 14 of the cylinders are open to enableconcrete to be inducted thereinto during the rearward charging strokesof their pistons, and to enable material in the cylinders to be expelledtherefrom during the forward or discharge strokes of their pistons.

A supply of concrete or other material to be pumped is held in a hopper15 which opens downwardly toward a zone directly ahead of the open frontends 14 of the pump cylinders 10, and 11. The hopper can be carried by amanifold structure 16 to which are affixed the front end portions of thepump cylinders.

Formed in the interior of the manifold 16 are separate inlet passages 17and 18 for the cylinders 10 and 11, respectively. These passages arecontrolled by the valve mechanism 20 of this invention, and they lie atopposite sides of an upright septum like wall 19 in the manifold whichprovides a barrier between the open ends of the pump cylinders. Theinner ends of these inlet passages are in communication with the openends 14 of their respective cylinders. Their outer ends, however, openupwardly and at a forward inclination, into the interior of the supplyhopper 15, through a down- 7 wardly and forwardly inclined surface 21 onthe manifold structure 16 transverse to the cylinder axes.

Also formed in the interior of the manifold structure at opposite sidesof the barrier 19 are outlet passages 22 and 23 for the cylinders 10 andl 1, respectively. The outlet passages 22 and 23 are in directcommunication with the inlet passages 17 and 18, respectively, and alsowith the one ends of their respective cylinders 10 and 11. Consequently,it can be said that the open front 14 of each pump cylinder opens to therear of a passageway having an inlet branch leading to the interior ofthe supply hopper and also to an outlet branch through which materialexpelled from the cylinder discharges.

The outlet passages or branches 22 and 23 open forwardly into a commondelivery chamber 25 which can be coupled to a delivery line, not shown.It is important to note, however, that the outlet passages 22 and 23also open through a lower portion of the aforementioned inclined surface21, as downward continuations of the two inlet passages. Thus, the inletpassages open in side by side relation through the upper half of thesurface 21, while the outlet passages open in side by side relationthrough the lower half of said surface. It will also be seen that theinlet port for each cylinder is located in the surface 21 substantiallydirectly above and in communication with the outlet port for saidcylinder.

Due to the symmetrical arrangement of two side by side port formingapertures in the surface 21, at opposite sides of the wall 19, the inletport for each cylinder will be diametrically opposite the outlet portfor the other cylinder. This makes it possible to control ingress andegress flow of material through the inlet and outlet ports by means ofvalve mechanism 20 comprising a single valve member 27 journalled torotate on an axis co' cident with the common center about which saidports are grouped. While the valve member may have any of a number ofconfigurations, it must have a surface 28 which is in mating contiguousrelation to the surface 21 through which the inlet and outlet portsopen, and which surface is at the underside of a pair of diametricallyopposite sector-like lobes 29 and 30. A plate or disc type of valvemember, such as shown, admirably meets these requirements. While thesurfaces 21 and 28 have been shown as being flat, they could just aswell be conical, or spherical mating surfaces.

With this arrangement, the lobes 30 and 29 can simultaneously close theupper inlet passage portion 18 for pump cylinder 11 and the lower outletpassage portion 22 for pump cylinder 10, in one operating position ofthe disc at which it leaves the upper inlet passage portion for cylinderand the lower outlet passage portion for cylinder 11 open. Hence,cylinder 10 can then be charged in consequence of rearward movement ofits piston; while cylinder 11 discharges in consequence of forwardmovement of its piston.

In a second operating position of the valve disc displaced substantially90 from its first position, the lobes thereon will close the upper inletpassage portion for cylinder 10 and the lower outlet passage portion forcylinder 11, so that cylinder 11 will be charged during rearwardmovement of its piston while cylinder 10 will be discharged duringforward movement of its piston.

The valve disc 27 is mounted on a shaft 32 and constrained to rotatetherewith by any suitable means. A bearing 33 on the manifold 16journals the shaft for rotary movement about an axis which is normal tothe flat surface 21 on the manifold and coincident with the commoncenter about which the inlet and outlet ports are grouped. The valvedisc 27 can be confined between the manifold surface 21 and the adjacentend of the bearing 33, to keep the surfaces 21 and 28 in contiguity.

Though not herein shown, my US. Pat. No. 3,298,322, suggests how adouble acting hydraulic cylinder can have its piston rod operativelyconnected to an arm on the shaft 33 so as to provide for rocking of theshaft through an angle of about 90 from either operating position of thevalve disc to the other. It will be appreciated, of course, that suchshifting of the valve mechanism to its operating positions is effectedin timed relation to movement of the pistons in opposite phase relationto one another.

It will be appreciated that the manifold structure 16 can, forconvenience of assembly, be made in two complementary parts separablefrom one another on the plane of the surface 21 and detachably heldtogether by means of quick opening toggles, wedges or even machinescrews 35 such as illustrated. It will also be understood that,following more or less conventional practice in the art relating toconcrete pumps, the housing comprising the cylinders and manifold can beequipped with replaceable liners and wear plates at the points ofgreatest wear, as for example on the valve disc itself.

The arrangement of the valve and the passages controlled thereby isespecially advantageous in that it least impedes natural flow ofmaterials into and out of the pumping chambers during reciprocation ofthe pistons therein.

It is also noteworthy that the valve disc can operate with only smallclearances at its opposite sides, which clearances can be effectivelysealed by the stowing action of particles of the concrete or othermaterial being pumped. Consequently, the valve disc is able to mosteffectively close off the pressurized passage portions from thenon-pressurized passage portions during operation of the pump.

The outlet passages 22 and 23 which are coaxial with their respectivepump cylinders open into a common delivery chamber 25, so as to achievethe desirable flow characteristics mentioned above. The deliverychamber, of course, is connectable with a delivery line, not shown, atthe open front end of the chamber.

The two cylinder pump illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 differs from thatfirst described substantially only in the specific construction of itsvalve member 75. While the valve member may still be of the disc type,it is here shown as having substantial axial length, being nearly halfas long in its axial dimension as the diameter of its flat underside 76.

The underside 76 of the valve member again flatwise overlies a flatsurface 77 on the manifold through which the inlet and outlet passagesopen. The two outlet passages open coaxially forwardly of the pumpcylinders, at opposite sides of the septum'19 and through the lower halfof the flat manifold surface 77. The two inlet passages open through theupper half of the surface 77, and are also separated from one another bythe barrier provided by the septum 19 but in open communication with theoutlet passages.

The valve member has sufficient axial lengthto enable a side portionthereof to extend across the open bottom of the supply hopper l5. Formedin the valve member are diametrically opposite channels or pilot passageportions 79 and 80, between its passage closing lobes 81 and 82.

In one operating position of the valve member seen in FIG. 6, its lobe81 closes the inlet passage 17 while the other lobe 82 closes the outletpassage 23. In that position, the pilot passage portion 79 is inregister with the inlet passage 18 for cylinder 11 to provide forcharging of material thereinto', while the pilot passage portion is inregister with the outlet passage 22 for cylinder 10 to provide forexpulsion of material therefrom to the delivery means.

In the other operating position of the valve member, cylinder 10 will becharged through pilot passage portion 80 then in register with its inletpassage 17; while cylinder 11 will be discharging through pilot passageportion 79 then in register with its outlet passage 23.

From the foregoing description, together with the accompanying drawings,it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that thisinvention provides improved valve mechanism which is readily adaptablefor use in concrete pumps of the single as well as the plural,

cylinder type.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention can beembodied in forms other than as herein disclosed for purposes ofillustration.

The invention is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A pump comprising a supply hopper and a pair of pump cylinders eachhaving a front end with an opening thereat and a piston operable duringits charging strokes to induct material from the hopper into itscylinder through said opening, and operable during its discharge strokesto expel material from its cylinder through said opening, characterizedby:

A. the pump cylinders being mounted side by side with their axessubstantially horizontal and their front ends adjacent to the undersideof the hopper;

B. a manifold connected with the front ends of the cylinders and havingthe hopper mounted thereon, said manifold having 1. a pair of outletpassages, one for each cylinder and communicating with said openingthereof to conduct material expelled from the cylinder to deliverymeans,

2. and a pair of inlet passages, one for each cylinder and communicatingwith said opening thereof, each of said inlet passages opening upwardlyto the interior of the supply hopper;

C. valve means rotatable on an axis which is inclined upwardly andforwardly with respect to the cylinder axes, and passes through saidmanifold D. said manifold having a forwardly facing surface that issubstantially perpendicularly intersected by the upwardly and forwardlyinclined axis about which said valve means turns and which has a pair ofapertures therein each defining the forward ends of said inlet andoutlet passages for one of the cylinders, said manifold surface beingintersected by the cylinder axes; and

E. said valve means having passage blocking lobe structure insurface-to-surface contiguity with said surface on the manifold.

2. A pump comprising a supply hopper and a pair of pump cylinders eachhaving an opening in its front end and a piston operable during itscharging strokes to induct material from the hopper into its cylinderthrough said opening, and operable during its discharge strokes to expelmaterial from its cylinder through said opening, characterized by:

A. the pump cylinders being mounted side by side with their axessubstantially horizontal and their front ends adjacent to the undersideof the hopper;

B. a manifold connected with the front ends of the cylinders and havingthe hopper mounted thereon, said manifold having 1. a pair of outletpassages, one for each cylinder and communicating with said openingthereof to conduct material expelled from the cylinder to deliverymeans,

2. and a pair of inlet passages, one for each cylinder and communicatingwith said opening thereof, each of said inlet passages opening upwardlyto the interior of the supply hopper;

C. rotatable valve mechanism to govern flow of material through saidpassages, said valve mechanism having means I. to block the outletpassage for one of said cylinders while providing for charging flow ofmaterial from the hopper thereinto via the inlet passage therefor in oneoperating position of said valve mechanism,

2. and to block the outlet passage for the other cylinder in anotheroperating position of said valve mechanism at which it provides forcharging flow of material from the hopper into said other cylinder viathe inlet passage therefor;

D. said manifold having a flat forwardly facing surface with a pair ofapertures therein, each of which defines the forward ends of the inletand outlet passages for one of said cylinders, said surface lying in aplane which is inclined downwardly and forwardly with respect to thecylinder axes and transversely thereof; and

E. said valve mechanism comprising a member having passage blockinglobes thereon in flat surface to surface contiguity with said inclinedsurface on the manifold, said member being mounted for rotary movementabout an axis which is normal to said inclined surface and divergesupwardly and forwardly of a plane containing the cylinder axes.

3. The pump of claim 2, wherein said lobes on the valve member arediametrically opposite one another.

1. A pump comprising a supply hopper and a pair of pump cylinders eachhaving a front end with an opening thereat and a piston operable duringits charging strokes to induct material from the hopper into itscylinder through said opening, and operable during its discharge strokesto expel material from its cylinder through said opening, characterizedby: A. the pump cylinders being mounted side by side with their axessubstantially horizontal and their front ends adjacent to the undersideof the hopper; B. a manifold connected with the front ends of thecylinders and having the hopper mounted thereon, said manifold having 1.a pair of outlet passages, one for each cylinder and communicating withsaid opening thereof to conduct material expelled from the cylinder todelivery means,
 2. and a pair of inlet passages, one for each cylinderand communicating with said opening thereof, each of said inlet passagesopening upwardly to the interior of the supply hopper; C. valve meansrotatable on an axis which is inclined upwardly and forwardly withrespect to the cylinder axes, and passes through said manifold D. saidmanifold having a forwardly facing surface that is substantiallyperpendicularly intersected by the upwardly and forwardly inclined axisabout which said valve means turns and which has a pair of aperturestherein each defining the forward ends of said inlet and outlet passagesFor one of the cylinders, said manifold surface being intersected by thecylinder axes; and E. said valve means having passage blocking lobestructure in surface-to-surface contiguity with said surface on themanifold.
 2. and a pair of inlet passages, one for each cylinder andcommunicating with said opening thereof, each of said inlet passagesopening upwardly to the interior of the supply hopper; C. valve meansrotatable on an axis which is inclined upwardly and forwardly withrespect to the cylinder axes, and passes through said manifold D. saidmanifold having a forwardly facing surface that is substantiallyperpendicularly intersected by the upwardly and forwardly inclined axisabout which said valve means turns and which has a pair of aperturestherein each defining the forward ends of said inlet and outlet passagesFor one of the cylinders, said manifold surface being intersected by thecylinder axes; and E. said valve means having passage blocking lobestructure in surface-to-surface contiguity with said surface on themanifold.
 2. and a pair of inlet passages, one for each cylinder andcommunicating with said opening thereof, each of said inlet passagesopening upwardly to the interior of the supply hopper; C. rotatablevalve mechanism to govern flow of material through said passages, saidvalve mechanism having means
 2. and to block the outlet passage for theother cylinder in another operating position of said valve mechanism atwhich it provides for charging flow of material from the hopper intosaid other cylinder via the inlet passage therefor; D. said manifoldhaving a flat forwardly facing surface with a pair of apertures therein,each of which defines the forward ends of the inlet and outlet passagesfor one of said cylinders, said surface lying in a plane which isinclined downwardly and forwardly with respect to the cylinder axes andtransversely thereof; and E. said valve mechanism comprising a memberhaving passage blocking lobes thereon in flat surface to surfacecontiguity with said inclined surface on the manifold, said member beingmounted for rotary movement about an axis which is normal to saidinclined surface and diverges upwardly and forwardly of a planecontaining the cylinder axes.
 2. A pump comprising a supply hopper and apair of pump cylinders each having an opening in its front end and apiston operable during its charging strokes to induct material from thehopper into its cylinder through said opening, and operable during itsdischarge strokes to expel material from its cylinder through saidopening, characterized by: A. the pump cylinders being mounted side byside with their axes substantially horizontal and their front endsadjacent to the underside of the hopper; B. a manifold connected withthe front ends of the cylinders and having the hopper mounted thereon,said manifold having
 3. The pump of claim 2, wherein said lobes on thevalve member are diametrically opposite one another.